Favorite Games of All Time #4 – A Wandering Anime Blog

Played on Gameboy Color

Released in 1998 by Game Freak 

Enjoy some complimentary music that I love from the game!

Once Upon a Forest

On Christmas Day of 1999, I hurriedly rush down my house’s stairs to see what on earth Santa Klaus had left for me this time. It was in fact my very first personal gaming device, as before that, I had shared everything that belonged to my brother. The magical gift giver had bestowed upon us brothers each a Gameboy Color and a copy of Pokemon. My brother was armed with a see-through purple ally and Pokemon Red, while I had the aggressively lime green system paired with Pokemon Blue. On that morning two things were created for my life. My absolute love for the Pokemon series that still holds true to this very day, and my own discovery of what it meant to have a gaming experience all for yourself. Before this moment, I had always either piggybacked or shared off of the games we had, never truly creating something that was all my own. Pokemon Blue changed this for me entirely. My first handheld experience in games, my first gaming experience solely for me, and my introduction to Pokemon itself.

It is not short-sighted to say that it is one of the most influential games of all time for many people, and of course, I am included in that. Pokemania was brewing at this time, and my brother and I were part of that storm that took the world by storm. We begged for trading cards as often as we were allowed, we tried to memorize the patterns of the Pokerap, and we were absolutely Pokeobsessed. It all started with a simple gift for a small little adventure of a kid leaving their hometown to see the world. A straightforward and blissful path lay before me as I played this game all day and deep into the night sneakily trying my best to not get caught by my parents. I probably single-handedly kept the battery business running and I am still awaiting my brand deal with Duracell or Energizer for helping their companies thrive so well. Amazing what can be born from a kid just wanting to take on the world with his little animal companion in all their glory.

151 Pocket Monsters

In case you are wondering, no I’m not delusional and think this game isn’t made of cobblestoned mistakes. Generation 1 is broken in more ways than one, you can’t really beat around the bush about that fact. The types are majorly unbalanced, half of the moves are absolute garbage, and there are all sorts of tomfoolery that can be had if you wish.  And you know what? Yes, I agree this game is a hot mess and shows how inexperienced Game Freak was back then, and despite that, I still find this game endlessly fun. Because of the weird way the game is patched together, many options are available to you here that just can’t be done today. Do you want to use a Butterfree that isn’t over grinded on the E4? You most definitely can, and it will do wonderfully. Do you want to run any water pokemon with ice beam and take on Lance? Totally doable actually. I love that Generation 1 in all of its faults is also a more complete Pokemon experience because of it. The fact that base stats make over half the roster useless in late-game in modern pokemon is so sad that I can barely contain myself on how much I want to rant about it. Then you boot up the OG Pokemon and you can run any team you want, and most likely have a chance to succeed. I think this game is admirable in how it captures the intentions of every pokemon being just as worthwhile as any other with that scope. Was it intentional? Most likely not, but it is what we have isn’t it?

My original team was a quartet of Charizard, Sandslash, Gengar, and Pidgeot…well that was before my brother was jealous I made it to the end of the game before him. I somehow let him convince me to restart the game so he could be ahead of me. He also didn’t like that I picked Charmander so I had to switch to Squirtle. Gotta love kid logic right? No matter, I made a similar team of sorts and blasted through the game with Blastoise and co. and still loved every single moment. I just recall that being a really unfair request that I just did for whatever reason. I must have not cared because I wanted to play more Pokemon either way! After we both completed the epic conclusion to the story, we set out on the big goal. Catch every single Pokemon. With the power of link cables, and our handy dandy, now completely destroyed, the paperback guide we set out to make it a reality. We actually did manage to do it as well! Of course, my brother had to have the complete dex first, and then I did right afterward. I don’t even remember when it happened, but it was a moment in my gaming life I won’t forget as me and my brother spent so much time bonding over our adventures in Pokemon. We did something similar for Generation 2, but nothing comes close to the first time ever. All of the great triumphs, the level 250 pokemon thanks to Missingno, and all of the rumors of that darn truck by the S.S. Anne. The talk and love of Pokemon just didn’t stop in that brief moment of history that is awe-inspiring for me to recollect nowadays.

Homeward Bound:

The Incredible Journey

I always have wondered, what is it about Pokemon I love just so much? Is it the catching of creatures you can name and then seeing the satisfaction of building them up through investment? Maybe it has something to do with the childlike fantasy empowerment of the entire world being my very own oyster? Certainly, it isn’t as simple as just beating up others to see how good I am right? If I had to pick an answer, it would most likely be something that sounds far less interesting than any of those. I just really revel in the feeling of going on an adventure that feels individualized and meaningful. You’ll hear me mention this again in my final posts on all of these games, and I’ve said it numerous times already at this point. The feeling of a good adventure is an unmatched part of the world of gaming. Pokemon taps into something very specific with that in mind as well. The way it really frontloads the most attractive parts of adventuring makes it super easy to connect with. They give you a little friend you can nickname, set you off into the world, and just let you do it at your own pace. It’s refreshingly mundane and few things hold back the player from being out on their own within minutes of starting their journey. I love this design philosophy when done correctly, and I think once again the very understated nature of the original Pokemon excels at making the small things count for so much more than we sometimes give credit for. Later titles may have expanded the core elements to sweet dopamine rushes of goodness, yet I always find myself going back and just appreciating the very start of it all for what it did right for me.

That’s number four finished!. Huge credit to my friend Raphael for producing the drawing used as the cover picture. He has helped create something that helps further define my love for these video games, and I really appreciate him doing it for me. Look out for number three tomorrow!